Overall, the Overland Bridge construction project is going smoothly. As of April, it’s on schedule, about 17% finished with a summer 2016 completion.

Although the Doll House has been closed for several months its owners have a lease with the state to keep fixtures in there until it must be removed by the end of May. Demolition of the former strip club will occur sometime during the summer; the contractor will be working in that area late summer, early fall. The pile of debris and rock adjacent to the Doll House will be broken up and disposed of during the day.
Residents need to be aware of upcoming detours and closures. Currently, traffic coming across the Main Street Bridge and moving over to Hendricks Avenue has a precarious jump across several lanes; that movement will be shut down permanently, possibly in June or July, subject to change based on unforeseen field conditions or weather.

Traffic over Main Street Bridge will be re-routed to Riverplace Blvd. or Prudential Drive. To get to San Marco, drivers need to take Hendricks or Kings Avenue. Since this will create additional traffic on those roads, the DOT will take a look at timing of the lights.

Prior to this, night time work is planned from mid-May to early June in the same area. The contractors will remove 300 feet of concrete median walls above the ramps, so there will be closing of onramps for several nights. Drivers will be directed to detour from the Acosta Bridge southbound to I-95 via Prudential Drive, and from the Main Street Bridge via the Museum Circle exit to Museum Circle to the southbound Acosta onramp I-95. When both onramps are shut down at same time, detour from Acosta will be to Prudential Drive to Kings Avenue to Philips Highway to I-95 southbound. All shut downs will be from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. only. The only daytime detours will be for brief closings of Gary Street and Hendricks Avenue re-routing traffic to Kings Avenue and Louisa Streets.

Any pile driving will be done during the daytime to minimize noise at night and Archer Western [the contractor] has issued strict instructions to sub-contractors to stay out of residential neighborhoods. “We are trying to be extremely sensitive to residents of the area,” said Michael Goldman, Florida Department of Transportation Public Information Officer. “Archer Western had a really delicate job with I-10 and I-95 and they have a good track record; they kept neighborhood distractions to a minimum. We
don’t want construction vehicles going into
residential areas.”